Influencers as socio-technical actors: mapping the paths of influence and the traces of the digital influencers’ system in Italy

In recent years, digital influencers or digital opinion leaders have emerged as a global phenomenon, one providing a rich field of investigation for several disciplines from sociology to marketing. The goal of the paper is to study this phenomenon by adopting an ecological approach, not focusing only on a single dimension but observing the influencer system as an environment with its own rules and subjects, examining the other components of the system and tracing the relationships between them. The original contribution of this paper is to conceptualize influencers as socio-technical actors, i.e. as social subjects that operate within technological platforms, and to adopt an interdisciplinary approach, starting from sociological and marketing studies on the influencer phenomenon and then moving on to STS studies that have focused on the social shaping of technology to shed light on how the influencers are transforming the (social) media system in which they are inserted and then the chain of communication industry. The argument will therefore start by reviewing the theories that address this phenomenon and by sketching a genealogy, tracing its roots in the cultural and social context of the participatory web and web 2.0. It will move, then, to investigate the dynamics of shaping social media platforms, reviewing the studies that have investigated them, from the Social Shaping of Technology approach to platform studies. The paper will apply the analysis to the Italian context, unfolding the dynamics of influence with the support of the case study of ClioMakeUp (the leading beauty creator in Italy), examples, and grey literature from the Italian context. In the final part, the paper will map the traces of the influencer system in Italy and the communication chain, focusing on the processes of mutual shaping between brands, communication agencies, influencer enterprises, regulatory bodies, media, and of course platforms. The STS approach proved to be useful in disentangling the several actors of the system, but as platforms evolved the opportunities for mutual shaping have gradually diminished as the balance of power seems to be tending in favor of the platforms. More research is needed to further understand the concepts of closure, script, and relevant social groups within social media platforms.

Questioning the algorithmic transparency of location-based platforms

In the platform society algorithms are perceived as ‘black boxes’ (Pasquale, 2015) and users have only a vague understanding of the criteria they adopt to select information. Location-based platforms algorithms influence the visibility of different points of interest (POI), thus shaping the user interaction with venues and places. The paper adapts the Diakopoulos and Koliska model (2017) and presents a new framework for analyzing the algorithmic transparency of location-based platforms. Research questions are the following: RQ1) How location-based platforms communicate algorithmic transparency?; RQ2) Which are the most relevant dimensions they take into consideration (data, model, inference, interface)?; RQ3) How platforms communicate transparency toward different targets (i.e. consumers and suppliers)? Following Rader, Cotter and Cho (2018) we expect location-based platforms are less transparent about the data they manage and about their model they use and more transparent about the inferences. Moreover, we expect location-based platforms are more transparent toward suppliers rather than consumers. The paper analyzes how 3 very popular location-based platforms (Google Maps, Tripadvisor and Instagram) disclose algorithmic transparency as it emerges from the analysis of ‘extant’ online data officially released (policies, guidelines, and tutorials) and from the analysis of the platforms’ mobile interface. The analysis revealed platforms are less transparent about the data they manage and model they use, and more transparent, only toward suppliers, about the inferences they propose. Moreover, location-based platforms are more transparent toward suppliers rather than consumers; indeed, commercial interests favours the algorithmic transparency and visibility of location-based content.

Dividing by Zero. Tautology and Paradox in the Self-Descriptions of Anonymous

This paper engages with the loosely bounded, ill-defined Anonymous movement, in order to develop a theoretical reflection on the process of self-reference within contemporary collectives. It is grounded on a socio-cybernetic framework and builds on a computationallly-assisted interpretative analysis of a huge dataset of Facebook posts related to Anonymous’ self-descriptions. As selected examples show, Anonymous results inherently contradictory. Its boundaries are radically contingent and performative, to the extent that it is impossible to distinguish the authentic from the inauthentic. The collective defines itself as ontologically multiple and radically anti-essentialist. Moreover, whereas Anonymous’ actions are systematically contradictory, Anonymous self-descriptions, relying on arguments mirroring poststructuralist theories, can only be tautologically or paradoxically expressed. Building on Luhmann’s claim that the reproduction of modern societies depends on concealing their self-referential foundations, the conclusion argues that Anonymous, by embracing its own constitutive paradox, pushes the process of autopoiesis to a new, radically recursive logic, departing in this even from recent theorizations on reflexivity.

Second-Order Innovation

The aim of this contribution is to consider Italy during the Sixties in order to model contemporary innovation dynamics. The purpose is not only for collective memory retrieval but mainly for de-constructing the innovation circuit and re-constructing it by means of a more sophisticated and detailed frame. A glossary of eigenvalues will be suggested through the concepts of garbo, cenacolo and pollinator; moreover, this glossary will be tested in two case studies: Olivetti and Bialetti. Starting from a simpler and circumscribed innovation regime, the final objective is to supply theoretical tools and support policy design in the actual “dark age”, where the message is drawn in a sea of noise and people start to confuse hoaxes with signals, thus polluting the communication and forcing a causal interpretation of casual relationships.

DISCIPLINES AND THE CATEGORIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC TRUTH

For the general audience, Wikipedia is considered the source of “truth,” especially for scientific knowledge. While studies of Wikipedia usually focus around the accuracy of the knowledge within it, few studies have explored its hierarchy and categorization. This study aims to describe how scientific information is organized into disciplines in Wikipedia. I take as a case study the Hebrew Wikipedia () and examine the representation and interrelations of five social sciences: sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and psychology. I gather data from Wikipedia entries categorized under each of these disciplines and create a network that contains categories and subcategories derived from these entries. Using network analysis techniques, I estimate the strength of the relations between the disciplines. I find that while sociology, anthropology, and political science are strongly linked to each other, psychology and economics are relatively isolated. An interesting case is the distance between economics and sociology, since under the subcategory “Inequality,” the entries are uniquely categorized under sociology or economics but rarely under both categories. I claim this is an example of a fractal walk in the distinction between the two disciplines. As there is a hierarchical difference between these disciplines, the end result is a hierarchical value of the scientific knowledge presented in these Wikipedia entries.

Production of truth as reduction of complexity. Understanding society with peripheral critical sociology

Truth is always a reduction of complexity. The various aspects of an observed phenomena are reduced to only those that relate to how truth is defined by the observer. In this sense, social sciences create society by applying theories that define what is truth to it. This logic becomes a problem when the social sciences in question do not reflect a wide range of different theories that can complement and criticize each other, providing a more complex observation and, thus, a more complex truth. This is the case with some social sciences of the Global South, especially, in early stages of their institutional and organizational development. However, decisions made in early stages of a system can only be changed with considerable effort later on. There tends to be an effect of path dependency, especially in organizations engaged in social sciences in the Global South. This article will explore the mechanisms of production of truth and thus of reduction of complexity by Marxist critical sociology in Ecuador, between the 1960s and 2010. A focus will be the institutionalization of these mechanisms in organizations and the augmentation of complexity within critical sociology, usually connected to certain ideas of politics and sciences.

How do collectives of amateurs handle complexity on financial markets while deciding?

This paper questions how investment clubs – as small groups of retail investors that pool their money – cope with issues of hyper-complexity and truth while deciding together where to invest their money. This may be challenging because investment-decisions are characterised by informational complexity, an unknown future and double contingency. By employing ethnographic data, this paper traces how investment clubs reach a collective decision despite hyper-complexity. It will be shown how the members of the group struggle to make sense of and to find a shared definition of a situation. During this process they try to reduce complexity by evaluating and deciding collectively. The ways the different groups achieve this is influenced by the group composition, their organisational structure and the interaction order. In some groups negotiations are an essential part of their meetings whereby complexity is initially cultivated. Negotiations are used to develop a shared definition of the situation. These groups question if the truth can be uncovered in financial markets. Other groups reduce complexity by using certain techniques to uncover the true value of a stock. These ways of coping with complexity are bound to certain ways of organising and types of members. Accordingly, successful evaluating and deciding, which means that decisions are made, is bound to several exclusions that are made legitimate by the inclusion in the financial market. In summary, the paper adds new insights to processes of decision making in situations that are characterised by complexity.

Greece and the media – A qualitative assessment of the news impact on credit conditions in the Greek debt crisis

We study the extent to which events transmitted by the media affect Greek bond interest rates by analyzing qualitatively articles in global newspapers during the Greek debt crisis. We focus on dates with strong changes in the yield to maturity of Greek government bonds in order to test whether news coverage matters for financial markets. We relate our results to a quantitative measure of media coverage using the novel method of topic models and examine days with a high level of a quantitative topic series. News coverage seems to matter on the majority of dates. However, we also find dates without crucial events and media coverage but that have strong changes in the bond yield and that seem affected by sources other than the media. The quantitative news measure regularly reveals relevant news articles on the days we analyzed.

Introduction: Special Issue ‘Complexity and Truth’

If not even earlier, then at the latest when Oxford Dictionaries selected ‘post-truth’ as Word of the Year 2016, did the global public become aware that ‘truth’ is not an uncontested and finite concept but a social construct. Are we, then, standing on the threshold of a new ‘post-truth age’ as – for instance – The Independent has claimed? (Norman 2016) Certainly, the Word of the Year 2016 has cast a bright light onto the case that there is not ‘one truth only’ but that there are facts that can be interpreted – or rejected – in different ways. This means that truth is ‘produced’, but is it produced as scientific or religious truth or as political truth? Just think of `fake news´ and its strategic use in influencing elections, as in the case of the latest presidential elections in the US or Brazil, or the leave campaign in the case of the Brexit referendum. Thus, the production of truth is undertaken by society, at least on the level of concrete actions. This situation becomes more complicated if we consider modern complex society. The increasing globalization of economies and societies has made the world more complex than it has ever before been.

Narrative Self-Reference and the Assessment of Knowledge

The concept of narrative self-reference incorporates selected aspects of literary theory into the theory of self-referential systems. Since cybernetics and systems theory focus mainly on computer-aided metaphors and information, the narrative approach provides a better insight into meaning. Narrative self-reference is the simplified narrative self-image that reflects the system-environment relationship and thereby stabilizes the system. Because the narrative is continuously re-written, continued and entangled in different practices, it provides the flexibility against new and disappointed expectations, and the stability for accountability and planning. Theoretical examples of further institutional, technical, authoritarian and pragmatic dependencies for the constitution of psychic and social systems with means of narrative self-reference are discussed. In summary, this article reflects the negotiating power of narratives by creating system boundaries for collaboration and a common ground for the assessment of knowledge. From this perspective, “post-truth” is not a lack of scientific authority, but more a lack of the virtue of an adequate dealing with narratives.